Week 14 MLB Power Rankings
Week 14 Power Rankings
Tier 1
1- Win’s Up Doc (10-3) [-]
2- Wait ‘ Til Next Year (9-4) [-]
3- Sporty Strauss (9-4) [-]
4- Ornery Otters (7-6) [-]
Tier 2
5- The Pullies (8-5) [+3]
6- Cooper Troopers (8-5) [-]
7- $traight Cash Homie (6-7) [-2]
8- The BamO’s (6-7) [-1]
Tier 3
9- Las Cabras (5-8) [-]
10- Minnesota Moose Knuckles (4-9) [-]
11- Shepherd Goods Choppers (4-9) [-]
12- DTC Porkchop Express (2-11) [-]
(Tier 1) The stretch run begins. Two matchups this week. Divisional play beginning. Surprisingly, Win’s Up Doc now has a 1.5-game lead over Wait ‘Til Next Year for the 1-seed, but also still has a 1.5-game lead over Sporty Strauss for his division. #Nolo’sDivision has been a gauntlet all season long and, now that divisional play is starting back up again, it’s going to be fascinating to watch how the final 3 or 4 weeks of the season play out.
Win’s Up Doc (1) is the surest bet to win that division, and he starts division play out by squaring off against the team currently #4 in the Power Rankings, the last team in Tier 1 – the Ornery Otters who have crawled over .500 after a slow start to his season. This matchup is huge, and Oat has everything to play for – a BYE, a Divisional Gift card and most of all, improving his odds as a League of Leagues champion. So Doc grabbed a couple of back-end pitchers off of DTC Porkchop Express for next to nothing. The Ornery Otters are just trying to sneak into the playoffs at this point and could have easily made that trade. Now, he faces the wrath of Win’s Up Doc’s lineup. Doc also plays the #5 team on the Power Rankings, The Pullies as well as Sporty Strauss in a couple of weeks, so he’s going to need to be on his game like he was this past week to hold all of these League of Leagues assailants off.
Wait ‘Til Next Year (2) is in a little bit of a slump, but the upcoming schedule is on his side. In a lone tough matchup, he does play Sporty Strauss this week in a pivotal non-divisional game, but his division is the easiest in the League of Leagues. It’s the MN Moose Knuckles this week, the Cooper Troopers next week and Las Cabras in the final week. All should all go down in short order. No matter what, Kyle is looking at either a 12-5 or 13-4 record and will almost certainly win that division and get a BYE.
Sporty Strauss (3) plays DTC Porkchop Express this week for an easy win, but he also plays Wait ‘Til Next Year before two tough matchups against the Ornery Otters and Win’s Up Doc during the last two weeks of the regular season. His past two weeks have made the playoffs look like a near certainty, especially with DTC on the docket, but it’s not over yet.
And the Ornery Otters (4) are just playing some of the most consistent baseball of any League of Leagues teams right now. They’ve jumped up to 3rd in points, but their upcoming schedule is pretty brutal. Korey has a rematch with Sam this week as well as a date with Win’s Up Doc. Then against Sporty Strauss in the long 2-week matchup. Finally is a reprieve with DTC Porkchop Express in the final week. He probably needs to win two more games at minimum to sneak into the playoffs. He does have the Head-to-Head tiebreaker over $traight Cash Homie, but not against The BamO’s unless he wins this week. If he beats Sam, it’s going to be hard for Korey to miss the playoffs. This week is everything for him.
(Tier 2) The Pullies (5) just pulled off one of the most fascinating upsets in League of Leagues history. He knocked off Wait ‘Til Next Year and now has a great chance at winning the #ShepherdGoods division. That’s going to cost them in the Strauss Draft, however, as their picks keep slipping lower and lower. To them, the $200 SG gift card is worth it, and there’s a strong case for that. Besides, with in-his-prime Shohei Ohtani on the squad, who knows how high The Pullies can soar. They could win the whole damn thing. Now it’s time to win the division and hold of Jack and Sam.
The Cooper Troopers (6) just dropped a tough one they could have won if he had enough relievers to beat the Ornery Otters. With that win, the Cooper Troopers would have almost assuredly made the playoffs, but now it’s time to focus. He has games against the other two piss-poor #Fhima’sDivision mates as well as the struggling $traight Cash Homie this week. He could make the playoffs with one more win, but two should be his goal. If it’s one, we’ll see where seeding falls.
$traight Cash Homie (7) does have an easy upcoming schedule – the easiest of any playoff hopefuls. He plays Sam and Cooper this week – both are must-wins. Then he draws the SG Choppers in his long matchup. Jack can’t drop any of those games, and winning all 3 would get him to 9-7 before a Week 17 date with The Pullies that could very well decide whether or not Jack gets last place in the League of Leagues. But right now, he doesn’t look to deserve a playoff spot. He’s down to 6th in points and he isn’t getting enough from some of his top players.
Then there’s The BamO’s (8). The poor BamO’s. Sam is 4th in total points, but probably won’t make the playoffs. The schedule was just too unkind. He draws two playoff hopefuls this week (Korey and Jack) when he really needed a gimme after two straight top-3 opponents. Then it’s Pullies time before a game against Dye in the final week. Sam will likely know depending on what happens this week whether or not he will have a chance to make the playoffs. He needs to put all the stops to win.
(Tier 3) All these teams are toast. Nothing to see here!
Current Playoff Seeding
Win’s Up Doc (10-3) *BYE
Wait ‘Til Next Year (9-4) *BYE
The Pullies (8-5)
Sporty Strauss (9-4)
Cooper Troopers (8-5)
Ornery Otters (7-6)
Consolation Bracket
$traight Cash Homie (6-7) *BYE
The BamO’s (6-7) *BYE
Las Cabras (5-8)
MN Moose Knuckles (4-9)
SG Choppers (4-9)
DTC Porkchop Express (2-11)
PROJECTED Playoff Seeding
Win’s Up Doc (13-4) *BYE
Wait ‘Til Next Year (13-4) *BYE
The BamO’s (9-8)
Sporty Strauss (10-7)
Ornery Otters (10-7)
$traight Cash Homie (9-8)
PROJECTED Consolation Bracket
The Pullies (9-8) *BYE
Cooper Troopers (9-8) *BYE
MN Moose Knuckles (6-11)
SG Choppers (5-12)
Las Cabras (5-12)
DTC Porkchop Express (3-14)
Notes: Tiebreakers are so critical right now. Everyone on the fringe of the playoffs should look at your tiebreakers with other fringes to see if you’re in good position or not. After this week, the Power Rankings will start outlining specific scenarios.
Week 13 High Score
Win’s Up Doc (Oat)
485 points points
Notes: The top-seed is putting up points. Weeks like this should show Oat that he belongs. Now, after a shrewd trade, his squad is even better.
Week 13 Low Score
$traight Cash Homie (Jack)
340 points
Notes: There have been some bad Homies performances down the stretch. As a result, he’s under .500 and might be toast f he can’t turn it around.
Week 13 MVP
Shohei Ohtani (The Pullies)
48 points
Notes: Ohtani’s first submission on this list! The premiere points league MLB player has given The Pullies a much-needed boost.
Week 13 LVP
Nestor Cortes (Cooper Troopwrs)
3 points
Notes: Coop’s drafting of Cortes is the #1 reason for his resurgence in baseball, but he’s too reliant on those picks. A bad week like this sends him down with an L while the Ornery Otters escape with a W.
Week 14 Matchups (Pt. 1)
Win’s Up Doc (1) vs The Pullies (5)
Wait ’Til Next Year (2) vs Sporty Strauss (3)
Ornery Otters (4) vs The BamO’s (8)
Cooper Troopers (6) vs $traight Cash Homie (7)
MN Moose Knuckles (9) vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (11)
Las Cabras (10) vs DTC Porkchop Express (12)
Week 14 Matchups (Divisional)
Nolo’s Division
Win’s Up Doc (1) vs Ornery Otters (4)
Sporty Strauss (3) vs DTC Porkchop Express (12)
Fhima’s Division
Wait ’Til Next Year (2) vs MN Moose Knuckles (9)
Cooper Troopers (6) vs Las Cabras (10)
Shepherd Goods Division
The Pullies (5) vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (11)
$traight Cash Homie (7) vs The BamO’s (8)
Week 14 MATCHUP of the WEEK
The BamO’s (8) vs Ornery Otters (4)
Notes: There’s a way to construe this as a battle for 4th place and $500. Both teams currently have the same amount of points, so whoever finishes higher in the playoffs likely gets 4th (or higher). That’s a lot at stake for a non-divisional matchup.
Right now, The BamO’s look like they’ll have a hard time sneaking in without a win here. But with a win, The BamO’s secure the H2H over the Ornery Otters. The Otters on the other hand, put another game of distance between he and Sam for a wild card berth.
The matchup itself is interesting, as always. The biggest concern for the Ornery Otters is that he’s two starts down this week. He’s going to have to find some streamers or make a trade, of which trades should be there. The BamO’s have some injuries and holes in the hitting lineup that are REALLY wearing him down right now. These teams look evenly matched, and it could be a heartbreaking loss for either.
Lineups (80 Hitter plays, 10 SP Plays)
C - Travis d’Arnaud vs Will Smith
1B - Paul Goldschmidt vs Pete Alonso
2B - Brandon Drury vs Eduardo Escobar
3B - Rafael Devers vs Alec Bohm
SS - Trevor Story vs Dansby Swanson
CF - Luis Robert vs Starling Marte
CO - Ronald Acuna Jr. vs Max Kepler
CO - Ian Happ vs Randy Arozarena
DH - Anthony Rizzo vs Rowdy Tellez
UTIL - DJ LeMahieu vs Jonah Heim
UTIL - Ke’Bryan Hayes vs Connor Joe
UTIL - Dylan Carlson vs Andrew Benintendi
UTIL - Jesse Winker vs Cody Bellinger
SP1 - Max Fried (NYM) vs Joe Musgrove (@COL)
SP2 - Max Fried (@WSH) vs Miles Mikolas (PHI)
SP3 - Robbie Ray (@TEX) vs Miles Mikolas (CIN)
SP4 - Triston McKenzie (DET) vs Logan Webb (ARI)
SP5 - Kyle Freeland (SD) vs Logan Webb (MIL)
SP6 - Brady Singer (DET) vs Corey Kluber (BAL)
SP7 - Bo Brieske (@KC) vs Corey Kluber (BOS)
SP8 - Zack Greinke (@TOR) vs Zach Plesac (DET)
SP9 - Marcus Stroman (NYM) vs Charlie Morton (NYM)
SP10 - ??? vs Noah Syndergaard (HOU)
Ornery Otters: Advantage at 9/22 positions
The BamO’s: Advantage at 13/22 positions